


A Soft Place to Land

by Rosewing789



Series: Linked Universe [4]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Vio is an insomniac, Vio-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:02:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25445821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosewing789/pseuds/Rosewing789
Summary: Vio is desperate to get Shadow back and will do whatever it takes.
Relationships: Shadow Link/Vio Link
Series: Linked Universe [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830298
Comments: 14
Kudos: 180





	A Soft Place to Land

**Author's Note:**

> Underline is for sign language.

It was a quiet night. The Links had dinner and we’re now spending their free time however they pleased. Wild was sorting through his slate with Hyrule and Wind over his shoulders. Time and Legend were reorganizing their bags. Sky was woodworking on a tree stump. Twilight and Warriors were discussing the differences in their Zeldas. Four had split because he claimed that the colors needed to stretch their legs. Green and Blue were sparring with Red as the referee. Vio was leaning against a tree, reading a book on dark magic. He hoped to help give Shadow a corporal form and when light magic was exhausted, he turned to less pure means. “No, this isn’t it.” He muttered, flipping through the pages at a desperate pace. He didn’t often get time to research while on the adventure so he wanted to make every second count.   
“What are you looking at?” Legend asked, suddenly appearing in front of him. “Nothing.” Vio responded quickly while shutting his book. Legend dawned a suspicious look.   
“Are you sure? That seemed like something.” Vio cursed the goddesses for making Legend so paranoid.   
“I assure you, it’s really nothing. I was simply reading up on the past in my time to see if I could help determine the timeline.” Vio said coolly.

Two days later, Vio was practicing in the woods. “Okay, I’m not going to try anything too difficult. Just giving myself claws. Shadow used to do that all the time, sometimes unwillingly. It shouldn’t be too hard, right?” Vio muttered to himself. He opened his book and flipped to the correct page. “Ok, here we go.” He drew a magic circle out of ink in the shadow of a tree. “Step one done! Now all I have to do is draw out the Shadow.” He encouraged. Vio dipped his hand in ink and placed it in the middle of the circle. He then made a pinching motion to try to get the Shadow on his fingertips. Nothing happened. He was about to try again but was interrupted by a shout.   
“Hey Vio! Time wanted to talk to you!!” Wind called.   
“Oh did he?” Vio asked while hiding his ink-covered hand behind his back and kicking the book away.   
“Sorry! Were you doing something?” Wind questioned with a frown. He then caught sight of Vio’s black hand. “Woah! What happened? Are you hurt?”   
“No, I just spilled ink on my hand. While writing… in my journal.” Vio jestured to the open book. “I should probably go wash that off. Tell Time I’ll be with him in a minute.” With that, Vio grabbed the book and hurried off in the direction of the river nearby.

The next incident happened a few days later. Four was on second watch so he split to pass the time. Green and Blue were out scouting, Red was helping Wind with a nightmare, and Vio was keeping an eye on the camp. Seeing that nobody was up, Vio took the opportunity to talk with Shadow. “I’m sorry it’s taking so long to get you an actual form.” Stop apologizing, I’m the one who sacrificed myself dumbass. Shadow signed back. Vio let out a weak chuckle. “I know, but I could have figured out a different solution. Don’t worry, I’ve been practicing my magic and I think I might have found a solution. Progress is slow though, and I don’t want to damage you while attempting a spell.” Vio explained. Don’t push yourself, okay? I’ve been a Shadow for a long time, I can wait a little more. Worry about yourself for once, for me? Shadow pleaded. “Of course, I’ll be very careful. I miss you Shads.” I miss you too. After the last comment, Shadow returned to his normal state and Vio went back on watch. Little did he know, Wolfie was listening in on the whole thing.

A few weeks passed without any problems. Vio kept doing his work in secret and it seemed like no one noticed. Until, he went too far. Vio was practicing making the shadows around him move. He almost made a tree’s shadow grow when he felt a sudden pain in his chest and collapsed. He blacked out for a few seconds. When he woke up, there was a grey streak in his hair. While debating how to cover it up, Sky walked up to him. “Hey Vio! The other colors want to reform and they sent me to get you.” He explained.  
“Okay! Thanks for telling me.” Vio responded cheerfully while trying to cover up the streak.   
“What happened to your hair?” Sky asked abruptly.   
“What do you mean?” Vio questioned slowly.   
“Part of it looks grey!” Sky exclaimed.   
“Oh, well it’s probably just the light. When light hits objects, some colors are absorbed and some are reflected. With the current position of the sun, it must be that the yellow is being absorbed more in that part of my hair.” Vio made up.   
“Okay!” Sky accepted. Vio thanked the goddesses that Sky didn’t know a lot about science. Luckily, when he merged back into Four, the streak disappeared.

Vio continued to work tirelessly to try to find a solution. Every time Four was split, Vio would spend all his free time researching and practicing. He started to lose sleep and became less and less careful. The other Links grew more concerned as each day passed. Soon enough, they confronted the other colors. “Vio’s been looking like a Zombie? Is he okay?” Wild asked bluntly. The colors shared a look before deciding what to say.  
“It looks like Vio’s been falling into old habits again.” Red sighed. “He may not seem like it at first, but Vio is very self-sacrificial and will constantly work to try and keep us safe.”   
“Vio’s a bad insomniac so he probably was researching instead of sleeping.” Blue added. “Back at home, we had to force him into his bedroom and lock the door so he would get some shut eye.”   
“Guess we’re going to have to force him to sleep again.” Green muttered. “Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We’ll look after him.” He assured. The Links looked relieved at that and let it go, trusting that the other colors knew how to take care of him.

A few hours later, the colors confronted Vio. “Vi, we’re concerned about you.” Green started.  
“We know you’re trying to bring Shadow back, but your slipping back into unhealthy habits.” Red worried.  
“You’re not sleeping, and you’re going deep into the magic rabbit hole.” Blue added. Vio let out a large sigh.   
“I know, Shadow said the same thing. But I’m getting close! I can feel it! I’ve almost got the answer.” Vio responded, a hopeful look in his eye.   
“Just, remember to take care of yourself. You’re important too, and we care about you.” Red reminded.  
“I know, I’ll try to look after myself better.” Vio promised.  
“That’s all we ask.” Green smiled.

While in Warriors’ Hyrule, the Links stopped at the castle to talk with Artemis. After the meeting, they all had a bit of free time on their hands. Vio quickly made his way to the castle library, hoping to get more information. He drifted through the sections, looking for any books on dark magic. He reached the back of the library and found a few promising books. Immediately, he sat down and started looking through them, desperately hoping one of them would have the answer. He read until the sun went down and the library got dark. After that, he decided to take a few of the books he was reading with him. He stuffed them in his bag and rushed to meet with the others.

After years, Vio had finally done it. He had found the answer. It was all coming together. Now, all he needed to do was perform the spell and Shadow should have a corporal form again, this time without being harmed by sunlight. He’d never been more excited, he would finally be able to hug him again. Time decided to let the Links have the day off, since the adventure was wearing them down. Vio knew not to look a gift horse in its mouth so he decided that today was the day he would perform the spell. He grabbed his journal and found a shady clearing away from civilization. He dropped his things and got to work.

The Links were all relaxing at an inn. Sky was napping, and the rest were engaged in a card game. “Hey, has anyone seen Vio?” Hyrule asked. The colors shared a panicked look.   
“He wouldn't, right?” Red mumbled.   
“It’s too soon.” Blue muttered.   
“He’d at least wait for Zelda.” Green whispered.   
“This can’t be good.” They said in unison. Without another word, they sprinted out of the inn with the Links hot on their trail. When they arrived at the clearing, they were met with a shocking sight. Vio was draped across Shadow’s lap, unconscious.   
“You idiot, I told you not to push yourself. And they say you're the smart one. I told you to wait for Zelda.” Shadow murmured while running his fingers through Vio’s hair with a gentle smile on his lips. Sunlight shone through the trees and framed his purple hair. He brushed the hair out of Vio’s face and ran his thumb across his headband, still shocked that he could physically feel him.   
“Watch out! It’s a dark!” Warriors shouted. Shadow looked like a deer in headlights as his head snapped to look at him. Green let out an astonished gasp.   
“That’s not just any dark, that’s-”   
“Shadow!” Red exclaimed as he rushed towards him, arms wide open and sobbing uncontrollably. He crashed into Shadow and a bright smile painted his face.   
“How are you back?” Blue asked, stunned. Shadow looked down at Vio.   
“Well this idiot thought that he could bring me back alone, with dark magic, without Zelda, and without any experience in said magic.” Shadow snarked.   
“This is touching and all, but are we going to ignore that he’s a dark?” Legend questioned, eyebrows furrowed.   
“I can explain this all later but right now, we need to get Vio medical attention. He’s also going to need a soft bed. With all the magic he used, he probably won’t wake up for a few days.” Shadow ordered while gently picking up Vio. Hyrule reaches into his belt.   
“I have a red potion. I’ll give it to him and the we can go back to the inn we’re staying at.” Green grabbed the potion and started to slowly feed it to him.   
“Not to concern you guys, but could someone take Vio from me? I’m still not one hundred percent sure about my new form.” Shadow asked weakly.   
“Oh Hylia! Let me take him from you.” Blue offered. Shadow gently placed Vio in Blue’s arms and then wrapped an arm around Red so he could lean on him. They quickly walked back to the inn and laid Vio on one of the beds. Shadow told his story to the Links with the conscious Colors vehemently backing him up.   
“I’ll keep tabs on his magic levels to track his recovery.” Shadow offered.   
“Definitely not! You just got a new form! You’re going to sleep immediately.” Green ordered.   
“Jeez, okay mom.” Shadow quipped as he got into bed with Vio. He had a shiteating grin on his face as he winked at Green.   
“Go to bed!” He demanded.

The next two days were fairly uneventful. Vio was unconscious and Shadow spent most of the day sleeping. Hyrule monitored both of them while the colors fretted over them nervously. It was the middle of the night when Vio finally awoke. Shadow was staring out the window, moonlight highlighting his figure. “Hey Shads.” Vio whispered hoarsely. Shadow let out a quiet gasp.   
“Vi! You’re okay!” He turned over and smiled at him.   
“Of course I am. You think a tiny spell could take me down?” Vio chuckled. Shadow let out a weak laugh as he embraced him. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hold you in my arms again.” Vio murmured.   
“I know, me too.” Shadow whispered back, head tucked in the crook of Vio’s neck. They stayed like that for a while, silently holding each other.   
“Hey Shads? I love you.” Vio whispered, tears dotting his eyes.   
“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Me? Not writing crack? What a surprise. Honestly though, this is my first time writing anything serious so constructive criticism is welcome in the comments. I love hearing what you guys have to say. It makes my day!❤️  
> Thank you for reading!


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